As treaties and trade agreements are implemented this year, more U.S. companies are looking at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for fresh business opportunities. Fortunately, a whole host of logistics and transportation service providers are laying the groundwork to overcome inherent infrastructure challenges.

Today, U.S. trucking companies face more regulations than any time in history—and they claim this “regulatory tsunami” is putting the clamp on U.S. productivity. During this session shippers will gain a better understanding of the current state of trucking regulations (HOS & CSA) and the impact they're having on capacity and rates.

Clean Energy Fuels Corp., the largest provider of natural gas fuel for transportation in North America, recently announced it has opened an El Paso, Texas-based fueling station as part of its America’s Natural Gas Highway.

The company said that this new natural gas station enables heavy-duty LNG truck fueling along the transcontinental Interstate 10 highway between Los Angeles, Calif., and Houston, Texas, with other stations opened or currently under construction in an effort to support Clean Energy’s portfolio of natural gas customers in the heavy-duty trucking, refuse and ready-mix market segments.

“The I-10 from LA to Houston is another link in America’s goods-movement infrastructure now fueling with natural gas,” said Clean Energy President and CEO Andrew Littlefair in a statement. “One corridor at a time, our nationwide network is opening and changing how America moves.”

The emergence of natural gas in the freight transportation sector cannot be overstated, especially when considering that it can cost up to $1.50 per gallon than gasoline or diesel on average and also reduces vehicle operating costs and greenhouse emissions by 23 percent in medium-to-heavy-duty vehicles, according to Clean Energy.

Brittain Ladd, a global supply chain consultant, told LM in a recent interview that investments in increased drilling of LNG, green gasoline technology, and LNG truck refueling stations is certainly going to be met with interest from the trucking industry and shippers.
“I have no doubt that the use of LNG will increase in the years ahead,” said Ladd. “However, what needs to be understood by all is that the demand for energy is so great in the US and the world that OPEC will continue to play a key role in meeting world energy needs. Additionally, OPEC is also investing heavily in alternative fuel technologies such as LNG, solar, and biomass so I would encourage the key players involved in the development of energy to make a commitment for collaboration and not confrontation.”

Clean Energy said last November that it aims to build a Jacksonville, Fla.-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal, and the company placed a purchase order contract on a Jacksonville area property on the St. Johns River that would be the initial LNG facility on the Eastern seaboard that would serve as an LNG provider for maritime, heavy-duty trucking, and rail sectors and would be able to produce roughly 300,000 gallons of LNG per day to support projected gains in maritime and rail usage by shippers and augment LNG supplies for southeastern-based trucking fleets.

“Clean Energy is responding to industry demand for LNG fuel for high-horsepower applications such as fueling long-haul trucks and cargo ships,” said Greg Roche, vice president of national accounts, Clean Energy, in an interview. “Jacksonville-based shipping companies have placed orders for LNG-fueled ships and there are currently no LNG fueling facilities to service them—we intend to meet that need. This has become increasingly important as the shipping industry has begun to prepare for the 2015 enforcement of the North American Emission Control Area, which effectively bans the use of bunker fuel within 200 miles of the United States.”

Roche added that this effort is the latest part of Clean Energy’s strategic plan to build the nation’s gas fueling infrastructure to enable fleets—trucking, maritime, or rail—to realize the benefits of fueling with cleaner, cheaper, and abundant natural gas.

About the Author

Jeff BermanGroup News Editor

Jeff Berman is Group News Editor for Logistics Management, Modern Materials Handling, and Supply Chain Management Review. Jeff works and lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where he covers all aspects of the supply chain, logistics, freight transportation, and materials handling sectors on a daily basis. .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

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